SPbPU: Polytechnic University at the UASR Presidents’ Forum
Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University participated in the UASR Silk Road Universities Alliance Presidents’ Forum on Sustainable Development. The Forum was the concluding event of the series of UASR Events 2021, which were held during the week. The organizers were strategic partners of SPbPU, Xi’an Jiaotong University (XJTU; PRC) and Politecnico di Milano (Polimi; Italy). Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the events took place online.
SPbPU took part in the UASR Silk Road University Alliance Presidents’ Forum
The forum brought together 16 university leaders from 13 countries and regions. XJTU Vice President Guang XI and Polimi Vice Rector Giuliano NOCI served as moderators. SPbPU was represented by Professor Dmitry ARSENIEV, Vice-Rector for International Affairs.
In his welcoming remarks, President of Xi’an Jiaotong University Professor Shuguo WANG emphasized that the world is going through a period of interconnected major changes, which have set new challenges for the development of universities. Rector of the Politecnico di Milano, Professor Ferruccio RESTA, spoke of the importance of the social responsibility of universities and the study of teaching and research projects related to sustainable development.
President of Xi’an Jiaotong University Professor Wang Shugo – Photo by Xi’an Jiaotong University
In his speech, Dmitry ARSENIEV, Vice-Rector for International Affairs of SPbPU, stressed that the most important global challenges for universities and higher education, in general, are the general trend of accelerating global processes, the rapid development of technology, competition for talents. To meet these trends, many countries develop national internationalization strategies or launch programs of excellence to help leading universities make this qualitative leap, commented Dmitry ARSENIEV.
One such program in Russia was the Priority 2030 Federal Program for Strategic Academic Leadership. Within the program, 10 winners in the Research Leadership area were selected, and Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University was among the 10 winners, confirming its unconditional status as a leading technical university in Russia and the world.
Vice-Rector for International Relations of SPbPU Dmitry Arsenyev
The target model of SPSPU for the period till 2030 is based on the new concept of Technopolis Polytechnic campus, understanding of the University socio-economic role in building the career of talented students, and several strategic long-term projects, offering technologies, solutions, and approaches for key vectors of S&T development, such as digital transformation, new energy, and global health issues. In many areas Polytechnic University is «on the same page» with other leading world universities — for example, SPbPU strategic development project «Human-Centered Technologies and Solutions» is close to the conceptual «Convergent Cities» project of Milan Polytechnic University. Giuliano NOCI, Vice-Rector of Polimi, spoke about this in his speech. Both projects focus on improving the quality of human life, including in the urban environment, which is achieved through the development of various technologies of interaction between man and society, man and technology, man and artificial intelligence. Polytechnic University supported the proposal of Professor Noci to make the concept of human-centered technologies a key topic of the scientific partnership of universities of the UASR Alliance for 2022 and stressed its readiness for cooperation in this and other areas.
I am sure that the development concept of SPbPU has a lot in common with the development strategies of UASR universities. Given the global trends, ambitions, and challenges of higher education development in the post-pandemic decade, we should combine the potential of the Alliance and make a qualitative breakthrough in partnerships. Polytechnic University is pleased to invite Alliance partners to participate in our strategic projects, conduct joint research, and develop joint graduate and undergraduate programs at our new campus. Let’s use our and your unique scientific equipment together, jointly publish research results, support talented students, young scientists, and inventors — including through mobility and exchange programs, new formats of joint educational programs, concluded SPbPU Vice-Rector Dmitry ARSENIEV.